UPSC Civil Services The toughest exams in india

Wed,February 13, 2019 12:38 AM

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. Also simply referred to as UPSC examination.

Although regarded as one of the toughest exams in the country, with the right approach and strategy, an aspirant can crack the examination. It is essential for aspirants to know and understand the requirements of the examination such as the syllabus and pattern, to get started.

The Notification for the 2019 examination will be issued on 19 feb 2019.This exam is conducted every year in three stages and they are: 1.Stage I: Preliminary Examination (Prelims) 2. Stage II: Mains Examination 3. Stage III: Personality Test/Interview Round- Stage 1 and 2 are conducted in pen-paper mode.

- This year the Prelims will be conducted on June 2, 2019 and Mains from September 20, 2019.PRELIMS- This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.Paper I - (200 marks) Duration : Two hours - Current events of national and international importance.- History of India and Indian National Movement.- Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.- Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.- Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.- General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change (that doesn’t require subject specialisation) - General Science.

POINTS TO BE NOTED:

- The questions in the Prelims Exam are of objective type or Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)- There is ‘Negative Marking’ in the prelims exam for each incorrect answer. The negative marking for incorrect answers will be 1/3rd of the allotted marks of that question.- The GS Paper II (CSAT) is of qualifying nature and candidates should score a minimum of 33 per cent in this paper to qualify to the next stage of the exam. - Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that yearMAINS

The Main Examination will consist of written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type, out of which two papers will be of qualifying in nature. Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers and Marks obtained in Interview for Personality Test will be counted for ranking.- The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory. The nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers will be such that a well- educated person will be able to answer them. - The questions will be such as to test a candidate’s general awareness of a variety of subjects, which will have relevance for a career in Civil Services. The questions are likely to test the candidate’s basic understanding of all relevant issues, and ability to analyse, and take a view on conflicting socio-economic goals, objectives and demands. The candidates must give relevant, meaningful and succinct answers.

- Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an interview known as the Personality Test.The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled.

INDIAN ECONOMY

- The syllabus mentioned for the Prelims for this subject, reads as, Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.While for Mains, the syllabus is..- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.- Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.- Government Budgeting.- Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, - different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e- technology in the aid of farmers.

- Land reforms in India.- Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.- Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.- Investment models.

- In the following series of articles, lets cover the aspects of Indian Economy that will be useful for our preparation to clear this exam. We will clearly be dealing with Indian Economy and not the subject of Economics per se. The difference being, Economics is theoretical while Economy can be said to be the practical study of the subject.- As a part of our preparation we will first have an Introduction and understanding of the World and Indian Economy at a glance, so that in a nutshell we will understand the holistic picture. In the same breath we shall also try to simplify the concepts of Economics like GDP, GNP etc.. to begin with.

- Moving forward, Banking will be dealt in detail with its structure, issues and current consequences. Understanding why the government uses Taxation and talks about budgeting and to maintain fiscal discipline through Money and fiscal policy will be a major area of concentration. The benefits and pitfalls of Inflation in India with the current scenario as the background and the various measures adopted by policy makers, will be analysed carefully. - Agriculture, the biggest contributor to Indian Economy in terms of human contribution, needs to be understood in the finest of detail not only to understand the problems being faced but to also explore and find out solutions. The story of Land reforms, its success and failure so far is an interesting part of our study in predicting the way our society responds to certain new experiments.

- The Industrial policies since independence and the way they shaped the course of India’s socialistic principles to modern day globalization will be dealt in detail, proving the point in how India plays a very major role at global stage today. The study of Planning commission, its various schemes and its transformation into NITI Aayog is the way forward to understand that, we have to change according to the times.

- India’s Foreign trade and its relation and influence over various Foreign institutions is again a domain of economic challenge that India has faced in the last couple of decades and the way the country came out with flying colours. In the same breath we should also objectively assess the levels of Poverty, inequality and unemployment in our country to have a fair picture of how the micro economic policies are benefitting the poor. - Tracking the way Markets behave, and the underlying reasons, is an area which is of both interest and concern for our study. The various Infrastructure models that we have adopted and the constraints in making India a country without the Infrastructure bottlenecks tells us the story of practical issues involved in the developmental process.